Islands breed strange animals. Isolated from the rest of the world, these ecosystems often produce creatures uniquely adapted to their idiosyncratic environments. Nations like Madagascar and New Zealand can thus support strikingly similar life despite ... More...

I do not think that a cast from the skullcap of a fossil bird can give us enough evidence as to support the idea that the animal was blind. Of course, I understand the methodology but the (supposed) absence or underdevelopment of certain areas or the bird's brain do not necessarily mean that the bird was blind. Brains are tricky. Corvidae for instance have small brains, but are highly intelligent. It is the number of neurons that matters.

I do not think that a cast from the skullcap of a fossil bird can give us enough evidence as to support the idea that the animal was blind. Of course, I understand the methodology but the (supposed) absence or underdevelopment of certain areas or the bird's brain do not necessarily mean that the bird was blind. Brains are tricky. Corvidae for instance have small brains, but are highly intelligent. It is the number of neurons that matters.

That's a good point, and I find it a bit odd that Daemon would take a joking reference and make that the headline. In the article itself, the scientists say the birds "might have been mostly blind", which is a far cry from "crashing blindly through the Madagascan forest". It reveals how easy it is to take a "perhaps" and turn it into "a (false) fact".

We should look to the past to learn from it, not destroy our future because of it — FounDit

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